Systane + hyaluronate
Systane Hydration is basically regular Systane plus hyaluronic acid (HA), otherwise known as sodium hyaluronate or (as they are saying) just plain hyaluronate. HA is a good thing, and seeing more and more US companies jump on that bandwagon is a good thing.
We now - finally - have quite a few on the US market, and it will be interesting to see how this one goes down, so please share your experiences if you try it!
Outside the US, HA is used as the activate ingredient in many very popular drops such as Hylo Forte. However, due to (in my opinion) antiquated FDA regulations, American manufacturers are not allowed to list HA as an active ingredient - which also means they can't advertise it (a/k/a explain its benefits). In addition, the concentration of HA is not listed since it's on the "inactives" list. So annoying.
But as I was saying, they have to list something else as the active ingredient. Each manufacturer has gone down a different path. For Oasis, and for Clear Eyes Pure Relief, it's glycerin. For Refresh Relieva, it's CMC and glycerin, so basically a cross between Refresh Plus and the others. For Blink, it's polyethylene glycol. And now for Systane, it's the usual Systane stuff (PEG and prop glycol).
Perhaps by the time industry straggler Bausch & Lomb gets around to thinking about making its own, the FDA will find a way to allow them to start talking about the benefits. Not holding my breath though.
Size matters!
A big selling point on this drop is the generous 0.7mL contents in each vial. Compare that to 0.4 for Blink and 0.3 for Oasis... that's a lot!
